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And the Proficient [the Sage], how does he stand with regard
to magic and philtre-spells?
In the soul he is immune from magic; his reasoning part cannot be
touched by it, he cannot be perverted. But there is in him the
unreasoning element which comes from the [material] All, and in
this he can be affected, or rather this can be affected in him.
Philtre-Love, however, he will not know, for that would require
the consent of the higher soul to the trouble stiffed in the
lower. And, just as the unreasoning element responds to the call
of incantation, so the adept himself will dissolve those horrible
powers by counter-incantations. Death, disease, any experience
within the material sphere, these may result, yes; for anything
that has membership in the All may be affected by another member,
or by the universe of members; but the essential man is beyond
harm.
That the effects of magic should be not instantaneous but
developed is only in accord with Nature's way.
Even the Celestials, the Daimones, are not on their unreasoning
side immune: there is nothing against ascribing acts of memory
and experiences of sense to them, in supposing them to accept the
traction of methods laid up in the natural order, and to give
hearing to petitioners; this is especially true of those of them
that are closest to this sphere, and in the degree of their
concern about it.
For everything that looks to another is under spell to that: what
we look to, draws us magically. Only the self-intent go free of
magic. Hence every action has magic as its source, and the entire
life of the practical man is a bewitchment: we move to that only
which has wrought a fascination upon us. This is indicated where
we read "for the burgher of greathearted Erechtheus has a
pleasant face [but you should see him naked; then you would be
cautious]." For what conceivably turns a man to the external? He
is drawn, drawn by the arts not of magicians but of the natural
order which administers the deceiving draught and links this to
that, not in local contact but in the fellowship of the philtre.
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